Is your concealer making you look older?

How to ensure it does its actual job.

For many of us, concealer is beauty’s saving grace. For as long as I can remember - even if I was having a no-make-up-day - two stripes of concealer, somewhat warrior like, are always applied beneath my lower lash line, ready to tackle the day. After all, is there any other product in our beauty arsenal which can give the illusion of eight hours sleep in under a minute? But, something so essential as the humble concealer, can actually have the opposite effect, and making us look older by settling in those fine lines and getting a little cakey. But, don’t discard it from your kits just yet, a few golden rules ensure it does the job it set out to do.

First, apply eye creamHydration, the pillar of any good regimen, is key when it comes to ensuring concealer works on your terms: that is, hiding dark circles, smoothing skin tone and going some way to fooling those around you that you are, in fact, well-rested (even if the truth tells a different story). Although the temptation may be there, and it can be counter-intuitive, the first step of concealing is not to reach for the concealer. Instead, apply an eye cream and leave it for around five minutes (brush your teeth; make a coffee), so the area around the eye is super-hydrated. When it’s time to apply concealer, it will glide over any fine lines instead of setting up camp in them.

Draw a triangleApplication is key in ensuring a concealer ticks all the boxes: erasing fine lines, brightening up the eye area and hiding discolouration. The best way is to draw a triangle (good bye warrior stripes) from the inner corner of your eye, to the outer corner of your eye and finish by pointing it down towards your lip, stopping in line with you nose. Then colour in the triangle (a wand concealer is perfect for this) and blend via a tapping method with your ring finger. This ensures the product doesn’t sit on top which emphasises bags and dark circles.

Colour matchA concealer palette can induce uncertainty in even the most seasoned beauty buff. As a general rule of thumb follow these simple rules:Green tones: counteracts redness.Pink or peach tones: for bluish or dark under eye circles.Yellow: smooths out blotchiness and also nixes discolouration in olive and dark skin tones.

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